Tom Shoop is executive vice president and editor in chief at Government Executive Media Group, a division of Atlantic Media Company, where he oversees editorial operations for Government Executive, GovExec.com, Nextgov and Defense One.

Tom joined Government Executive magazine in 1989, and spent six years writing feature stories on federal management issues, interviewing the Vice President, the White House chief of staff and various Cabinet secretaries.

Tom was promoted to executive editor in 1995. The following year, he led the team that launched GovExec.com, an award-winning Web-based publication for federal managers and executives. He was named editor in chief of Government Executive in 2007 and vice president in 2010.

In November 2010, Tom was elected a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a congressionally chartered independent coalition of top public management and organizational leaders. In 2012, he was the recipient of the Timothy White Award from American Business Media, given to editors whose work displays courage, integrity and passion.

Prior to joining Government Executive, Tom was a supervising editor at Macmillan Publishing in New York. He holds a B.A. in history from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.

Catherine A. Novelli was sworn in as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment on February 18, 2014. In this capacity, she leads the State Department’s efforts to develop and implement economic growth, energy, agricultural, oceans, environmental, and science and technology policies to promote economic prosperity and address global challenges in a transparent, rules-based, and sustainable system.

Prior to assuming her current duties, she was Vice President, Worldwide Government Affairs at Apple, Inc. In that role, Ms. Novelli headed a multinational international team responsible for Apple’s federal, international, and state and local government relations and public policy.

Prior to her tenure at Apple, Ms. Novelli was a partner in the Washington office of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP where she assisted Fortune 100 clients on issues involving international trade and investment.

Formerly Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe & the Mediterranean, Ms. Novelli coordinated U.S. trade and investment policy for the over 65 countries of Western Europe, Central Europe, Russia, the NIS, the Middle East and Northern Africa. She has taken a leading role in many of the most important U.S. trade negotiations in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa. As the point person for the $1 trillion economic relationship between the United States and Europe, Ms. Novelli led efforts to ensure access to the European market for U.S. manufactured and agricultural products.

Ms. Novelli was the lead strategist in creating the United States’ free trade agenda with the Middle East. She led free trade agreement negotiations with Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain, Oman and United Arab Emirates. She chaired the Trade and Investment Framework Councils with a number of countries in the region, including Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria, and worked on other broad-based, public-private initiatives in the region.

Ms. Novelli has also played a critical role for the United States in Central Europe, Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia. As the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, she negotiated most of the bilateral trade and investment agreements that underpin our economic relationship in that region.

Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Novelli served in the Office of General Counsel at the Department of Commerce. Ms. Novelli is a graduate of Tufts University, holds a law degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Laws from University of London (with concentrations in international and comparative law at the London School of Economics and School of Oriental and Asian Studies).

Matthew W. Barzun, Ambassador of the United States of America to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, U.S. Department of State

Matthew W. Barzun was selected by President Barack Obama as National Finance Chair for the president's 2012 re-election campaign. He previously served as U.S. Ambassador to Sweden from 2009 to 2011. Ambassador Barzun is an internet pioneer who was the fourth employee at CNET Networks, where he worked from 1993-2004. Ambassador Barzun served in a number of roles at CNET, including Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy officer, and member of the executive committee.

During his time there, he launched Download.Com, which grew to become CNET's biggest site and he led the effort to build one of the first comparison shopping sites on the Internet, Shopper.Com. He went on to co-lead all of CNET's online properties including CNET.Com and News.Com.

After leaving CNET in 2004, Ambassador Barzun has advised and invested in start-up internet companies, including MedTrackAlert, which delivered consumers information about their prescription medications (it was sold to HealthCentral in June 2008), and JiWire, an advertising network for wireless devices.

Ambassador Barzun was among the first to join Barack Obama's National Finance Committee before the President's election in 2008. In that capacity, he produced the first $25 per-person fundraiser and helped teach Obama University for campaign volunteers.

In Kentucky, Ambassador Barzun has served on the boards of many non-profits with a focus on education (the Louisville Free Public Library Foundation, Louisville Public Media, and Teach Kentucky); public policy (the Kentucky Long Term Policy Research Center, and The Greater Louisville Project) and interfaith relations (Center for Interfaith Relations).

He graduated Magna Cum Laude with an AB in History and Literature from Harvard College.